Apparatus for creping paper



1967 G. w. DOLL ETAL APPARATUS FOR CREPING PAPER Filed Nov. 1, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

C r INVENTOR$3 GREGORY W. boLLzni BQENbAN L. bou.

J BY awwwdw ATTORNEYS 1967 G. w. 001.1. ETAL APPARATUS FOR CREPING PAPER S Sheet S-Sheec 2 Filed Nov. 1, 1963 INVENTORSI I14 BRENBAN L. DOLL 5y ammmmu HERA/5K9 Nov. 14, 1967 G.W. 001.1. ETAL APPARATUS FOR CREPING PAPER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 1, 1963 mvgmoxs:

GREGORY Whom! ATTORNEY-5 United States Patent 3,352,733 APPARATUS FOR CRERING PAPER Gregory W. Doll, 118 Oakwood Drive, Lenoir, NC. 28645, and Brendan L. Doll, Patterson, N.C. 28661 Filed Nov. 1, 1963, Ser. No. 320,7 32 Claims. (Cl. 156585) The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for creping paper which is of improved quality since it is devoid of any blisters or uncreped areas.

Conventionally, paper creping apparatus includes a relatively large drying cylinder or drum which receives a web of wet paper thereon. The paper adheres to the surface of the drying cylinder and is carried forward thereby during the rotation thereof and is dried by the drying cylinder during its movement therewith. A doctor blade is positioned in contiguous relation to the drying cylinder for scraping the dried paper web therefrom and usually has a rather blunt working edge such that the paper builds up on this working edge and is creped thereby.

Deficiencies have been encountered in the use of such conventional paper creping apparatus. One such deficiency manifests itself in relatively large uncreped or poorly creped areas in the paper web, which areas are commonly referred to as blisters in the trade. Such blisters result since some areas of the paper web do not adhere, or at least do not adhere as tightly as other areas, to the surface of the drying cylinder and therefore are more easily removed which results in very little or no creping.

Another deficiency of conventional paper creping apparatus is that no readily adjustable means is provided for varying the degree of crepe imparted to the paper. Heretofore, the degree of crepe imparted to the paper could only be varied by varying the sharpness or bluntness of the working edge of the doctor blade which necessitated a grinding operation thereon or by varying the angle of the doctor blade to the surface of the drying cylinder. Both of these procedures are time consuming and result in considerable down time or loss of production.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved paper creping apparatus wherein the occurrence of blisters in the finished creped paper is pre vented.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved paper creping apparatus of the character described wherein the degree of crepe imparted to a paper web may be readily controlled or varied.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a paper crep ing apparatus incorporating the features of the present invention with portions broken away;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged end elevation looking from the right in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken I substantially along line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 with portions broken away and shown in section;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary isometric view of another em-- bodiment of a paper creping apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 of the apparatus shown in FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis (not shown) and has a relatively smooth outer surface 12 thereon.

Drying cylinder 11 is adapted to have a web of wet paper to be creped deposited thereon and carries this web of paper forwardly therewith during its rotation. The web of wet paper adheres to the smooth surface 12 of drying cylinder and is dried thereby during its travel therewith. In this regard, drying cylinder 11 is provided with suitable means (not shown) for heating the outer surface 12 thereof to effect the drying function. This construction of drying cylinder 11 is conventional and therefore will not be described in further detail herein.

An elongate doctor blade mechanism 13 is spaced around drying cylinder 11 from the point at which the wet paper is received thereon and extends longitudinally for substantially the full width of the drying cylinder. Doctor blade mechanism 13 (FIGURE 3) includes a shaft 14 mounted adjacent its opposite ends in bearings 15, 16 (FIGURE 1) for rotation relative thereto. Bearings 15, 16 are in turn mounted on frame members 17, 20 which form a portion of the frame of paper creping apparatus 10.

Collars 21, only one of which is shown (in FIGURE 3), are mounted on shaft 14 for rotation therewith and have a doctor blade supporting member 22 mounted thereon by suitable welding 23 or the like. Doctor blade supporting member 22 includes a first generally vertical portion 24 and a generally inverted L-shaped portion 25 mounted on the lower part of vertical portion 24 and cooperating therewith to define a substantially inverted U-shaped configuration in cross section which receives collars 21 therein.

The upper end of vertical portion 24 has an elongate slot therein (FIGURES 3 and 4) in which is disposed a doctor blade 26 which is removably mounted therein in conventional manner. The upper edge of doctor blade 26 defines a working edge 27 having alternating blunt and sharp portions 27a, 27b, respectively, for forming alternating finely and coarsely creped areas in the paper web W. Working edge 27 of doctor blade 26 is disposed in contiguous relation to the surface 12 of drying cylinder 11 and extends for substantially the full width thereof such that doctor blade 26 will scrape or otherwise remove the paper web which is adhering to the surface of the drying cylinder 11 therefrom and will impart at least some degree of crepe thereto.

An elongate roll 30 is mounted at one end in a bearing 31 (FIGURE 1) and at its other end in a gear box 32 (FIGURE 2) of a gear motor 33 which rotates roll 30 in timed relation to the rotation of drying cylinder 11 and in the same rotative direction as the drying cylinder, as indicated by the arrows in FIGURES 3 and 4, so that the adjacent surfaces of the roll 30 and drying cylinder 11 travel in opposite directions. Preferably, roll 30 is smooth surfaced, but the same may have a surface of increased coefiicient of friction to provide increased frictional contact with paper web W and hence increased control thereover.

A generally L-shaped bracket 34 (FIGURE 1) has a horizontal leg 34a on which bearing 31 is mounted by suitable bolts 35, only one of which is shown, and has a vertical leg 34-15 which carries a boss 36. Boss 36 receives the upper end portion of a stud 37, which upper end portion is secured therein by a set screw (not shown). The lower portion of stud 37 is externally threaded and forms a part of a turnbuckle mechanism 40. Turnbuckle mechanism 40 includes a lower stud 41 which has the upper portion externally threaded and is generally L- shaped with the horizontal leg portion thereof at the lower end. The horizontal leg portion is mounted in a lateral extension (not shown) of a collar 42 which is mounted on shaft 14 for rotation therewith outside of bearing 17.

A similar bracket 43 (FIGURE 1) also of L-shaped configuration has a horizontal portion 43a supporting gear motor 33 and its associated gear box 32 and has a vertical leg 4312 which has a boss 44 mounted thereon. Boss 44 receives the upper end portion of a stud 45 which is secured therein by a set screw 46 (FIGURE 2). Stud 45 forms a part of a turnbuckle mechanism 47 which includes a lower stud 48 which is substantially L-shaped and has the horizontal portion mounted in a lateral extension Sthz of a collar 50 also mounted on shaft 14 for rotation therewith. It is noted that collars 42 and 50 are substantially identical in structure as are turnbuckles 40 and 47.

Roll is disposed on the opposite side of doctor blade 26 from the outer surface 12 of drying cylinder 11 and has a portion spaced from the surface 12 of drying cylinder 11 and thereofextending upwardly above working edge 27, which portion cooperates with a portion of outer surface 12 of drying cylinder 11 and the working edge 27 of doctor blade 26 to define a paper creping pocket generally indicated at 51 (FIGURE 3). The size or depth of this paper creping pocket 51 may be varied by vertical adjustment of roll 30 relative to working edge 27 of doctor blade 26 by turnbuckles and 47 to thereby control at least to some degree the amount or degree of crepe imparted to the paper web W.

Roll 36 is biased toward engagement with or against doctor blade 26 by springs 52 (FIGURES l and 2) connected at one end to studs 37, of turnbuckles 46, 47 and at their other end to upstanding studs 53 mounted on frame members 17, 20. A roll doctor blade 54 is mounted on a bar 55 which is in turn mounted at opposite ends on brackets 34 and 43. Roll doctor blade 54 has its upper edge disposed in contiguous relation to roll 30 to prevent the creped paper web W from adhering to the surface ,of roll 30 and becoming wound thereabout.

In operation, drying cylinder 11 is rotated at a predetermined speed and a wet paper web is continuously deposited thereon, rather firmly adheres thereto and is carried forward by rotation of the cylinder 11. The wet paper web is dried by drying cylinder 11 such that when the same arrives at doctor blade 26 and is carried by the drying cylinder into paper creping pocket 51, the paper has reached a substantially dry condition.

The rotation of drying cylinder 11, carries the paper web into paper creping pocket 51 and against working edge 27 of doctor blade 26 where the alternating blunt and sharp portions 27a, 27b respectively, of the working edge form alternating longitudinally extending bands of finely and I coarsely crepe areas in the paper web. The creped paper web W accumulates to a predetermined extent in the paper creping pocket 51, which accumulation is controlled by the size of paper creping pocket 51 and by the speed of roll 30 which removes the creped paper web from the pocket 51 in the opposite direction from which the web enters the pocket. In this regard, the surface speed of roll 30 is maintained less than the surface speed of drying cylinder 11 a predetermined amount, which amount is corollated to the amount of creping desired in the paper web W. Paper creping pocket 51 functions in similar manner to the stutter box and the initially creped paper web is additionally or further creped by its being stuffed into or accumulated in paper creping pocket 51.

After the paper leaves the paper creping pocket 51, the same is wound into a roll by suitable windup mechanism (not shown) or moves on to other processing steps in its production. It can be appreciated that due to the accumulation of the initially creped paper in paper creping pocket 51 and the additional crepe imparted thereto by such accumulation, the occurrence of blisters or uncreped areas in the paper web W is obviated. In this regard even if certain areas of the uncreped paper web do not adhere to the surface 12 of drying cylinder 11 or do not adhere as tightly thereto as other areas, the same are creped by the accumulation in the paper creping pocket 51 and the 1 finished paper wehW is substantially uniformly creped throughout and is therefore of increased quality.

Referring now to FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings wherein another embodiment of the present invention is shown and wherein like reference characters with the prime notation added are used to designate like parts, a rotatable drying cylinder 11' having, a smooth outer surface 12' has a doctor blade mechanism 13 disposed adjacent thereto. Doctor blade mechanism 13 includes a doctor blade 60 supported in the same manner as doctor blade 26. Doctor blade 60 is similar to doctor blade 26 except that its upper edge defines a working edge 61 which is substantially smooth throughout the length of doctor blade .60 and is devoid of the alternating blunt and sharp portions of the workingedge 27 of doctor blade 26. Working edge 61 of the doctor blade 60 is disposed in contiguous relation to surface 12 of drying cylinder 11 and serves to remove the paper Web W therefrom and to impart crepe thereto.

An elongate roll 62 is provided on the opposite side of doctor blade 60 from drying cylinder 11 and has a partion thereof extending above working edge 61 and cooperating with drying cylinder 11' and doctor blade 60 to define a paper creping pocket 51. The outer surface of roll 62 has means for increasing the frictional contact between roll 62 and the creped paper webW'. In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, this means comprises longitudinally extending flutes 63 which preferably extend for the full length of roll 62. However, it should be understood that any suitable means for increasing this frictional contact may be employed without departing from the scope of the present invention. Roll 62 is journaled at its opposite ends in bearings 65, only one of which is shown (FIGURE 5). Bearing 65 is supported by horizontal leg 43a of a bracket 43 which also supports a variable speed drive means 66' Variable speed drive :means 66-includes a motor 67 which drives a variable speed transmission 70. Variable speed transmission 76 is illustrated as being of the type manufactured by The Zero Max Company and sold under the trademark Zero Max. However, it should be understood that any suitable variable speed transmission may be employed within the scope of the present invention.

Transmission 76' includes a lever 71 by which the output speed of a drive sprocket 72 is controlled. Drive sprocket 72 drivingly supports one end of a sprocket chain 73 which .is supported at its other end by a sprocket 74. Sprocket 74 is drivingly mounted on one end of roll 62.

Bracket 43 is supported by a turnbuckle mechanism 47' and the other end of roll 62 is similarly supported in a manner not shown for vertical adjustment for varying the size of paper creping pocket 51. Springs 52, only one of which is shown, bias roll 62 againstdoctor blade 60. The spring 52 which is shown is connected at one end to stud 45 of turnbuckle 47 and at its other end to a stud 53' carried'by frame member 20'. A roll doctor 54' carried by a mounting bar 55' is disposed in contiguous relation to roll 62 to prevent the windup of the creped paper web therearound.

The second embodiment of the present invention functions similarly to the first embodiment described above and differs therefrom in that working edge 61 of doctor blade 60 imparts a substantially uniform crepe to the paper web throughout the width thereof and in that roll 62 has a greater control over the paper web accumulating in paper creping pocket 51'. In this regard, fluted roll 62 has a greater frictional engagement with-the paper web W' and is driven at a variable speed by variable speed drive means 66 such that the degree of crepe imparted to the paper'web W in paper creping pocket 51' may be controlled both by the size of pocket 51 and by the speed of roll-62.

It will therefore be apparent that an improved paper creping apparatus is provided wherein uncreped areas or blisters are prevented and wherein the degree of crepe imparted to the paper web may be readily and easily varied.

In the drawings and specification there have been set forth preferred embodiments of the invention and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims:

We claim:

1. Apparatus for the production of creped paper comprising (a) a rotatable drying cylinder adapted to receive a web of paper to be creped thereon and to carry the web of paper forwardly therewith,

(b) an elongate, horizontally disposed doctor blade having a working edge disposed in contiguous relation to said cylinder for removing the web of paper from the cylinder and for creping the paper web as it is removed, and

(c) means cooperating with said drying cylinder and doctor blade for further creping the paper web after it is removed from the drying cylinder by said doctor blade, said means comprising (1) an elongate rotatable roll positioned against said doctor blade on the opposite side thereof from said drying cylinder and having a portion thereof extending above the Working edge of said doctor blade and spaced from said drying cylinder, said roll cooperating with said doctor blade and a portion of said cylinder to define a paper creping pocket having its bottom closed by said doctor blade for accumulating and further creping the paper web removed by said doctor blade, and

(2) means operatively connected to said roll for rotating the same in the same rotative direction as said drying cylinder is rotated so that the adjacent surfaces of the roll and drying cylinder are traveling in opposite directions and the roll 5 removes the thusly creped paper web from the paper creping pocket in the opposite direction from which the web enters the pocket. 2. The structure recited in claim 1 including 5 (e) means mounting said roll for vertical adjustment relative to the working edge of said doctor blade for varying the size of said creping pocket to thereby control the degree of crepe imparted to the paper web, and

(f) means operatively connected to said roll for biasing the same against said doctor blade.

3. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein the working edge of said doctor blade has alternating sharp and blunt portions which form alternating coarsely and finely creped areas in the paper web, and wherein said elongate roll has a substantially smooth outer surface.

4. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein means are provided on the outer surface of said roll for increasing the frictional contact between said roll and the paper web.

5. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein said means for rotating said roll comprises variable drive means for rotating said roll at a predetermined rate relative to said drying cylinder so that the surface speed of said roll is less than the surface speed of said drying cylinder and 25 for varying the surface speed of said roll to further control the degree of crepe imparted to the paper web.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

H. F. EPSTEIN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF CREPED PAPER COMPRISING (A) A ROTATABLE DRYING CYLINDER ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A WEB OF PAPER TO BE CREPED THEREON AND TO CARRY THE WEB OF PAPER FORWARDLY THEREWITH, (B) AN ELONGATE, HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED DOCTOR BLADE HAVING A WORKING EDGE DISPOSED IN CONTIGUOUS RELATION TO SAID CYLINDER FOR REMOVING THE WEB OF PAPER FROM THE CYLINDER AND FOR CREPING THE PAPER WEB AS IT IS REMOVED, AND (C) MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID DRYING CYLINDER AND DOCTOR BLADE FOR FURTHER CREPING THE PAPER WEB AFTER IT IS REMOVED FROM THE DRYING CYLINDER BY SAID DOCTOR BLADE, SAID MEANS COMPRISING (1) AN ELONGATE ROTATABLE ROLL POSITIONED AGAINST SAID DOCTOR BLADE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE THEREOF FROM SAID DRYING CYLINDER AND HAVING A PORTION THEREOF EXTENDING ABOVE THE WORKING EDGE OF SAID DOCTOR BLADE AND SPACED FROM SAID DRYING CYLINDER, SAID ROLL COOPERATING WITH SAID DOCTOR BLADE AND A PORTION OF SAID CYLINDER TO DEFINE A PAPER CREPING POCKET HAVING ITS BOTTOM CLOSED BY SAID DOCTOR BLADE FOR ACCUMULATING AND FURTHER CREPING THE PAPER WEB REMOVED BY SAID DOCTOR BLADE, AND (2) MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID ROLL FOR ROTATING THE SAME IN THE SAME ROTATIVE DIRECTION AS SAID DRYING CYLINDER IS ROTATED SO THAT THE ADJACENT SURFACES OF THE ROLL AND DRYING CYLINDER ARE TRAVELING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AND THE ROLL REMOVES THE THUSLY CREPED PAPER WEB FROM THE PAPER CREPING POCKET IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FROM WHICH THE WEB ENTERS THE POCKET. 